


Orange

by yosaffbridge



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brief Petunia Evans, F/M, James Potter Being an Asshole, Marauders' Era, Quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 16:15:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11740617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yosaffbridge/pseuds/yosaffbridge
Summary: James takes Lily to a Cannons game with a surprise in store.





	Orange

When Lily Evans arrived home at the beginning of what was to be her final spring holiday from Hogwarts, she knew better than to think she’d be able to relax and possibly get some extra schoolwork done. After all, she was dating James Potter, and he was sure to find a way to disrupt her peaceful holiday with some kind of mischief. It didn’t matter that he was in London and she in Nottingham, in a Muggle neighborhood which meant no Apparating. He’d find a way to get to her, despite his habit of napping in Muggle Studies. Lily knew she had to be prepared for anything.

She still couldn’t quite fathom how it had happened. For years she’d thought him arrogant, rude, and completely obnoxious. Then seventh year rolled around and she’d been shocked to discover he’d been picked as Head Boy. _Why couldn’t it have been Remus?_ she’d thought miserably. _I get along with Remus, and he's a good prefect. Potter is just….ugh!_ She had been reluctant to work with James in their Head Student duties, but after several nights of rounds and various meetings, she began to realise that somehow, James had changed. He was more responsible, more hardworking. He could go an entire hour without pulling some kind of prank. And the amount of times he purposely mussed his hair had lessened noticeably. He still had his silly side, of course – the pranks and joking around with Sirius still happened, just less frequently. It was quite possible James had matured.

The sudden change in behaviour had made Lily curious. So when James asked her on a date for what had to have been the 500th time since their fifth year, to the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, she thought a moment, hesitated, and said yes. _Perhaps there’s more to this James Potter than arrogance and Quidditch, _she thought as they met in the common room for the walk down to the village. That day, she discovered there was much, much more to James Potter. He made her laugh harder than she’d laughed in weeks. He surprised her with his kindness and thoughtfulness. And he intrigued her with the kind of intelligent discussion she’d normally be having with Remus. That evening, he walked her to the foot of the staircase to the girls’ dormitories and bid her goodnight, bending low to kiss the back of her hand. In that moment, though neither of them realised it at the time, James had won the girl he’d been trying to get for the past two years.__

__Now, a mere six months later, Lily couldn’t imagine her life without James Potter, first class git and the most wonderful man in the world all rolled into one. They’d never made any actual plans, though they had talked about the future, and what life might be like once they left school what with the threat of Voldemort and the growing feeling of general fear and mistrust in the wizarding world. They knew it was fast, but not knowing what might happen from one day to the next meant they weren’t willing to take any moment for granted. They knew, looking at each other, that it was to be the two of them together for the rest of their lives. It almost gave Lily chills to think about it. Someone she wasn’t able to stand being around less than a year prior was now the man she wanted to share her life with, have children with, grow old with. She’d never been a big fan of Divination, but if she believed in fate at all she’d have to say it definitely had a hand in the two of them finding each other._ _

__The owl came after she’d been home for a mere 24 hours. He flew in through the open living room window and perched on the arm of the chair Lily was sitting in, causing Petunia to shriek and run out of the room. Lily could have sworn the owl rolled his eyes as he stuck out the leg holding the letter, and she laughed. “Hello, Llewellyn,” she said softly, taking the letter and stroking the tawny owl’s soft feathers before he hooted affectionately at her and flew back out the window. Unrolling the parchment, she found an unsurprisingly short note in James’ oddly neat handwriting._ _

___Evans,_ _ _

___Am picking you up tomorrow in the am, seven sharp. Wear attire appropriate for watching Cannons game. Yes, I know they haven’t won the League since 1892. No, I don’t think it’s hopeless to think they might win again. Yes, we’re still going. WILL NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, EVANS._ _ _

___Seven sharp!_ _ _

___Potter_ _ _

___P.S. Do give the lovely ~~venomous tentacula~~ ~~fanged geranium~~ RHODODENDRON a hearty hello for me, won’t you?_ _ _

___P.P.S. Let’s all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best!_ _ _

___P.P.P.S. Love you!_ _ _

__The next morning at precisely seven a.m., Lily was tying off the laces on her trainers when the doorbell rang. She bounded down the stairs and opened the door only to be nearly blinded by an incredibly ridiculous amount of orange. She couldn’t help but laugh when she noticed the only black items James was wearing were his shoes and a turtleneck, of which only the collar could be seen. “Merlin, James! Are you wearing the entire catalogue of Cannons gear?” she asked, laughing._ _

__He grinned down at her, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. “Well, I had to make up for you, you know! See?“ He gestured at her scarf. “You’ve only got one orange thing on!” Still bouncing, he grabbed her hand and jerked his head towards the street. “Well, come on, Evans! I’ve made them wait and they’re not going to be patient much longer!”_ _

__Lily looked over James’ shoulder to see who could possibly be waiting on them, and she told herself it was the bright orange that had prevented her from noticing the bright _purple_ Knight Bus sitting half on the front walk. Her jaw dropped. “Good grief, you made them wait on us??” She rolled her eyes, yelling a quick goodbye to her parents and closing the door behind her as he tugged her towards the waiting bus, walking backwards._ _

__“I think it’s because that conductor fellow has a crush on you. What’s his name – Snotwipe?”_ _

__Lily rolled her eyes again, something she seemed to do often when she was with her boyfriend, no matter how much he’d matured. “Shunpike, James. Skip Shunpike. And he does _not_ have a crush on me!” James laughed as she swatted him lightly on the arm with her free hand. Suddenly, his head turned in the direction of one of the upstairs windows behind her, and he immediately grinned even wider. Lily didn’t even have to turn around to know who he was looking at._ _

__“Morning, Daffodil!” he called out, raising his arm in greeting. “Lovely morning, isn’t it? How’s that young man of yours – Dumpling, is it?” He waggled his eyebrows, winking, and Lily turned and looked back just in time to see Petunia fling the curtain shut with a look of disgust._ _

__“You just love to torture my sister, don’t you?” Lily asked, laughter in her voice, as they finally reached the bus and climbed on._ _

__“Have to get my entertainment somehow, don’t I? Besides, the way she treats you, she could stand to be knocked down a peg or to, I should think – Oi! What’re you looking at, Shipdike? Never seen a pretty bird before?” James’ tone instantly switched from teasing to threatening as he caught the gangly conductor staring at Lily as they passed, and he steered her behind him protectively, blocking her from Skip’s view._ _

__“I—well, er—that is to say, I wasn’t—I mean, not really—er…” Skip stammered, thoroughly flustered and blushing bright red under James’ threatening glare._ _

__At once both irritated and flattered by his overprotectiveness, Lily rolled her eyes and wriggled out from behind him, tugging him towards the back of the nearly empty bus. “For heaven’s sake, James, don’t be ridiculous!” she muttered, looking back at him, then called back to Skip, “Sorry about that!”_ _

__“What?” James said, annoyed, as she pulled him towards two armchairs in the very back. “He was eyeing you like a Niffler when it spots something shiny! I’m not about to let some pimply tosser look at my girl like that!” They were both thrown into the chairs as the bus unexpectedly took off, and he straightened his glasses before shooting a glare towards the front of the bus._ _

__Lily smiled, no longer able to keep a stern look. “Never mind that, James Potter,” she said, taking advantage of a relatively calm moment to turn his face towards her with a finger placed lightly under his chin. “Today is about having a good time, right? Seeing the Cannons play?”_ _

__“Yeah, you’re right. Today is about – OI! – having a good time. And a good time – BLOODY HELL – we shall have!” James replied, getting thrown first to the left and then backwards as the bus jumped from place to place._ _

__Several bumpy minutes later, Lily was thrown into James’ lap during a particularly sharp turn as the bus screeched to a halt. “Chudley!” the conductor yelled out, and Lily extracted herself—something that proved rather difficult as James was endeavoring to keep her right where she was—and made her way towards the front of the bus, maneuvering around chairs that had shifted during the journey. James bid a cheerful farewell to the driver, hopping off the bus after her and jumping out of the way as it immediately took off._ _

__Once they had sat in their rather choice seats—Lily noticed they had a perfect view of both sets of hoops and the scoreboard—James pulled out his Omnioculars. They were one of his prized possessions, given to him by his father a few years back, and he never went to a Quidditch game without them. The visiting team, the Prides, had already been introduced and were flying laps around the pitch. James held the Omnioculars up to his eyes, studying the players as Lily flipped absently through her programme. She wondered why the Cannons hadn’t been introduced yet right as she flipped to a page that was completely blank save the words _Oi. Look up.__ _

__Curious, Lily looked up—and was stunned to see all seven Cannons players floating directly in front of them, looking right at her and all of them grinning. She looked over at James, bewildered, and raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was looking at her as well, with a grin so wide she thought his face might split. “James? What on earth…?”_ _

__“Watch,” was all he would say, and he gestured towards the team._ _

__In perfect unison, they recited, “Lily Evans, you are the love of James Potter’s life. He may often act like a git, and he may be prone to childish antics, but he can’t imagine his life without you in it. That’s why he would like to ask…” They parted in the middle, leaving a gap wide enough for Lily to see the large, orange words appearing on the blackboard:_ _

____

_LILY EVANS, WILL YOU MARRY ME?_

Stunned, tears welling up in her eyes, Lily looked over at James. His smile had faded into a look of nervousness, hope, and unmistakable love. Momentarily speechless, she could only grab his hand and stare at him in wonder for several moments before finally managing to choke out a quiet, “Yes.”

The sound of thunderous applause broke her reverie as James leapt up, smiling, and pulled her to her feet. Still in a bit of a fog, she vaguely noticed that everyone around them was on their feet as well, and clapping. The Prides had flown over once the applause started to hover alongside the Cannons, and all fourteen team members were applauding as well. Lily looked up at James as he wrapped his arms around her, looking happier than she’d ever seen him. She closed her eyes briefly, sighing softly as her heart sped up at his nearness. He rested his forehead against hers, whispering so only she could hear. “I know we’re young, but I don’t want to wait any longer. I know I don’t want anyone else, love. And I want the world to know it. I want you to be my wife as soon as we leave school.”

“I like the sound of that,” she whispered back, rising slightly on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck. “I don’t want to wait either.”

“Good,” James breathed, an instant before capturing her lips in a slow, sweet kiss that made her knees slightly weak. Breaking the kiss when the need for air demanded it, James paused only for a moment before taking Lily’s hand and leading her out of the stands. “Come on—we know how the game’s going to turn out, anyway,” he said, glancing back at her and ignoring the glares coming from several people they passed who were as bedecked in orange as he was.

Lily followed, wondering what he could possibly be up to now. “Where are you taking us?”

“You’ll see,” James replied cryptically, and her answer was given a few short minutes later as they stepped inside the now empty Cannons locker room.

“Lily looked around for a moment, puzzled. “Why are we in the Cannons changing room, James? Are we even allowed to be in here? Come to think of it—how did you make all that—“ she gestured in the direction of the pitch—“happen?”

“Gudgeon owed me a favour, and his dad is the team’s manager. And even if we _weren’t_ allowed in here, it’s not like we would get caught, yeah? The Cannons are bound to put up a fight for at least an hour or so.” He pulled Lily to him and wrapped his arms around her waist, backing her slowly up against the wall as he talked. “Besides, I wanted some time alone with the future Mrs Potter.” Lily was vaguely aware of bumping up against the wall as James’ mouth descended on hers once again. She pressed fully against him as their mouths moved together and was rewarded with a low groan when her movement produced friction against his already growing erection.

She was going to be his wife. Knowing that it was now definite, that the question had been finally asked out loud and replied to in the affirmative, made her excited and scared and nervous all at once. She threaded her fingers through his hair, moulding herself to him and suddenly finding that her passion was taking on a whole new meaning. This was the man she'd be exchanging wedding vows with. This was the man who was going to be the father of her children—a boy and a girl, if she got her way. This was the man she knew she'd love with all her heart until her dying day.

James reached up under her skirt and slid off her knickers, lifting her in his arms and palming the outsides of her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Propping her against the wall, he paused for a moment and gazed up at her, one hand reaching up to softly brush a lock of hair away from her face. "I love you, Lily," he whispered huskily, eyes locked on hers.

Lily smiled, knowing that she'd found what so many people spend their whole lives searching for. "I love you too, James."


End file.
